GG what is the deal!!!

#21 The proccesor is a P2 runnign at 400 Mhz (as it says in the message)

Unless you have some very different cable, most cable modems get nowhere near 600 kbps uploading. My cable modem (Mediaone/Roadrunner) is limited to about 50 KB per second. Assuming your game uses 3K per second you could then support 16 people at a time. In the real world, you would have to be very lucky to even get that sort of performance, and you are more likely looking at 10 simultaneous users.

Developing anything that will support thousands of users while only being able to test with 10 is a bit silly.

The way I would do it would be to develop some sort of graphic-less test client (similar to the dedicated server). If you had a few decent machines and a LAN, you could probably run 100 or so of them, which would be a much better test, IMHO.

As for the hand holding, perhpas that is the wrong word. From reading your other messages, it sounds liek you are trying to make a MMOG with no C/C++ programmers. If that is true, give up now. You will *need* to change underlying code to produce something like that. V12 can't do everything for you, and it was designed for one game, a FPS. MMOGs and FPS' share some common features (graphics, sound, some networking) but there are some fairly drastic differences.

Of course, I haven't seen the code yet either, so don't count on me.

Josh

#22 Matthew, maybe you should look into the Asheron's Call 2 engine.(http://www.turbinegames.com) It is not released yet, and I don't think they will release it at 100$. But they do exactly what you talking right off the box. I was on the beta test of asheron's call 1 and it is ONE HUGE WORD, where you can walk from one end to the other in a few months of REAL TIME walking... that is huge.

The engine do zoning and server hand offs but it is all seemless, you never wait from one zone to the other. Anyway check their site, they have all the tech info on that... but if you have no money my guess is that it will only make you sad... =(

#23 matthew I hope you dont expect anyone else to code it for you..anythings possible if you put your mind to it, As the guys said, you get full source code to do what you want with it.
Im not a programmer but ive heard techinques like Asymetrical loading or semothing?
its a techinque our game studio is using in a current game where it loads the next 'zone' or area while your still in one, so you will stil notice a little slow down when crossing zones but it will be pretty much seamless.

Dont stress! there will be lots of resoucres available once the engine is out. please dont keep repeating the same question :)

#24

Quote:Im not a programmer but ive heard techinques like Asymetrical loading or semothing?
its a techinque our game studio is using in a current game where it loads the next 'zone' or area while your still in one, so you will stil notice a little slow down when crossing zones but it will be pretty much seamless.

that is exactly what Asheron's Call code is doing.. that is why zoning and server hand's off are seemless.

I have read on their site that they could even build a game that is only a few mega bytes initial download.. and while you are making your initial character, the whole game is downloading seemlessly, (actually they download only where you will appear (= ) It is all pretty cool..

But it is quite different then T2 (V12) and you would need a lot of coding to make that with the V12 engine. Depends on what you want to do as to what exact engine best suit your game.

#25 Actully I am the c++ programmer and I don't expect anyone to do any coding for me.

What AC does is practically what i explained up a few posts up with my zoning idea to make it seem like it is one big map. the only problem is if they teleport there will be a delay to load the new zone, unless the zone is nearby. Server side though might be tough. I will have to have the server load up all the zones and not repeat any, then when they get to the edge of the map they get "transported" to the other side of the map (server side) but client side it appears as if the next zone is the other side of the map. This should make the world seem spherical and nonstopping. The one thing i would love to know about AC is how they can update the map and such without having the user download updates but my guess is probably streaming the map to the client.

#26

Quote:the only problem is if they teleport there will be a delay to load the new zone, unless the zone is nearby

Yes there is a delay when you teleport from one zone to the other. But Turbine (the developpers of AC) added a little scifi animation (kinda like the portal animation in the Stargate movie) when you teleport from place to place. By making an animation that seem to actually move you from place to place, the user have a fell of doing something.. not just waiting for something to load. While the user look at the little anim, he loads the new zone.. TADA ! It is not long.. about 10 seconds if I remember correctly.

Pretty neet...

#27 Plus in Asheron's Call you didn't have to use the teleporters if you didn't want to. I was part of the beta test as well, and I just walked everywhere I wanted to go (unless I was trying to get to an island or entering a dungeon, then I was forced to use the 'ports :p). Until the team at Turbine broke the rivers in one beta patch during the test (I waded down the middle of the rivers allot when I wasn't in the mood for a fight LOL), it was the most entertaining way to get from point A to point B. Never saw a single load screen... accept for the portal animation when I would head to an island or into a dungeon. Walked from one end of the main continent to the other... took me days of real time with interuptions from Real Life, but it was worth it, I had a blast and saw allot of sights portal users would miss while I was wandering around off the beaten path.

#28 That's an interesting idea, I might just do that. Then again teleporting will be close to rare (teleporting spells are just overused in MMORPGs).

#29 Well if you do that, be sure to game test it throughly. You see, portals in ACs are not just for show. They are there because most people don't want to run 5 hours to meet their buddies in some town. If you make them run from place to place all the time I think you will break the cooperation (fellowship, guild etc) that are a plus in a massively multiplayer game like AC...

Anyway, good luck

#30 heh don't worry. The whole process of making an MMORPG is balancing. That is what most of our time is going to be spent on. Of course you have MMORPGs that don't balance *cough* UO *cough* and you get havoc and angry players. We all have ideas for the game but the main part is finding the perfect balance, whether it be spells, races, classes, equipment, teleporting, and more. Yes I know there's no "perfect" balance since everyone has different appearances, but you get what I mean.